You're tra vel/ng through another dimension...
A dimension not onl y of sightand sound, but of mind,
a journey into a wondrous land
whose boundaries are tha t of ima Gina tion.
Your next stop, the twilight zone.
My son is coming to get me.
Good-bye.
Good luck.
I didn't say I'd come and get you, dad.
I said... I'd come
and we'd talk about it.
Five... ten...
15... 20... 25...
30... 35... 40...
45... 50...
55... 60...
65... 70... 75... 80...
85, 90, 95, 100!
Here I come, ready or not!
Hey, mister.
That's our can.
We're playing.
Hey, mister.
Sunnyvale rest,
a home for the aged...
A dying place
and a common children's game called kick-the-can
that will shortly become a refuge
for a man who knows he will die in this world
if he doesn't escape into the twilight zone.
75, 80,
85, 90, 95, 100.
Here I come, ready or not.
Give tha t can!
Listen to them.
How can a man think?
They've been told they aren't supposed to play on the grounds.
The children?
Are they hurting anyone?
Old people need their rest.
Let them play some place else.
They got playgrounds.
They got homes.
Well, it's the grass, Ben.
Kids can't resist going where the grass is.
What's wrong?
Nothing.
Your own son turns against you.
Well... the boy has got a lot of problems.
It's a small house,
and the... second baby is on the way.
It was a foolish idea thinking
I could move in on them.
They don't want an old duffer like me underfoot.
No. This place is good enough for me.
Listen to 'em.
It's enough to wake the dead!
Oh, Ben, they're playing kick-the-can.
Don't you remember?
Oh, we used to play it all the time.
Oh, we were running and shouting...
And all that noise.
Well, you can't stop kids
from playing kick-the-can.
It's like statues an d...
And hide-and-seek.
It's in their, their blood.
It's a...
A special summer ritual.
5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30...
Did you ever stop to think of it?
All kids play those games.
And the minute they stop,
they begin to grow old.
It's almost as though playing kick-the-can keeps them young.
You ever notice that?
Say, you don't believe in magic, do you?
There, there was a time that you did.
You know, we've known each other ever since...
Oh, I can't remember.
Ever since we were a couple of towheaded kids.
You believed in magic then.
Me? Magic?
Yes, you did.
When we walked on different sides of a street lamp
you'd say, "bread and butter."
When your baby teeth came out
you put them under the pillow
for the tooth fairy.
Yeah, you believed in magic.
What happened, Ben?
What changed you?
Was it time that did it?
Or was it something else?
We grew up, that's all.
Everybody gets older.
Maybe there are...
People who stay young.
Maybe they know a secret they keep from the rest of us.
Charles.
Maybe the fountain of youth isn't a fountain at all.
Maybe it's a way of looking at things,
a way of thinking.
Charles, stop it.
You're an old man, you understand?
Your youth has been gone for 60 years!
Oh, what I mean is, uh...
You've lived a full life, Charles.
Don't go sloppy now.
Don't spoil it by acting like a nut.
But it's all so clear.
It makes sense.
Can't-can't you see it, Ben?
Oh, no, you were quite right to come to me.
When he acts like that,
I-I feel I don't know him at all.
Well, Mr. Conroy,
when people grow old, truly old,
they begin to act a little peculiar.
Now Mr. Agee, for instance.
Some way he got a hold of a few firecrackers,
and I found them trying to set one of them off.
Now he could've gotten hurt.
Every time one of our people goes senile,
I get a little cold inside.
When I first took this assignment, iwas 32.
Now I'm 43.
Everyone grows older, Mr. Conroy, even me.
Nyeah!
Oh, say, what's wrong with you people?!
Can't you show a little life?!
Are you the same ones that used to skip rope?
And hunt for polliwogs?
Huh?
And run through sprinklers?
Huh?
Run through sprinklers.
Hey!
What are you gonna do?
Why, that's the silliest thing
I've ever seen.
Look! Oh! Oh!
Let him drown himself if he wants to.
That's terrible!
Come on in! The water's fine!
Mr. Whitley!
Come on, get out of there.
Mr. Whitley,
what's the matter with you?
Here, now you get him inside.
Fresh clothing, and get him to bed!
Now, I... I was afraid something like this would happen.
In the morning, I'll have to put him
in a special ward for observation.
We're gonna have to isolate him for a while.
That'll kill him.
Senile?
Me?
Put me in a special ward?
Alone?
You've got to show them you're all right.
Cut out the crazy talk.
Act like everyone else.
Oh, what a choice.
To keep an attendant
from pawing at my pulse all day,
I have to sit like a... Vegetable on that porch.
I'm trying to help you.
Keep on like you're going and they'll put you away.
Now use your head.
Maybe you're right.
Hmm?
Come. Come.
What is it, fire?
Shh!
Hmm? Huh?
Wake the girls.
Call Mrs. Summers and Mrs. Worcester.
It's important.
Huh?
Psst! Psst!
What are we doing here?
I'll catch my death.
We ought to be in bed.
What'd Mr. Cox say?
Well, he'd say being awake
is dangerous and silly.
He'd probably say we're crazy.
Well, maybe you got to be a little crazy
to make the magic work.
Remember how we used to do it?
We'd sneak out at night when the weather was like this?
And we'd play kick-the-can.
Oh, ever yb od y
played that game, or hide-and-seek!
Shh.
Yeah, it seems like a million years ago.
Say, you know something?
I was the fastest runner on our block.
When we would play kick-the-can, I was never "it."
Of course, look how I've changed.
I remember.
We all get old.
It's the running I miss most.
Me, too.
I... I think if I could only run again
then growing old wouldn't be so bad.
People getting on need their rest.
Well, we can't run fast or far
but, well, we can move
and there are trees and bushes.
Maybe if the hunted are handicapped,
so is the hunter.
Us?
Children's games?
Yes, that's the secret.
Don't you see?
The secret of youth.
Say, d/d I tell you
iwas the fastest runner on our block?
You can't be serious.
He isn't serious.
You bet I am.
Look! Think! Feel!
Here, hold it.
Doesn't that wake some sleeping part of you?
Listen.
Can't you hear it?
Summer... grass...
Run... jump... youth!
Wake up!
Wake up.
Oh, this is your last chance.
I can't play kick-the-can alone.
Charles.
What are you doing?
Aw, Ben.
Come with us, out on the lawn.
Me?
Yes, you, Ben.
We've always done everything together.
Let's not stop now.
Come. Come with us, Ben.
Come play kick-the-can.
Charles.
Come to your senses.
Ben, you're afraid.
You're afraid of a new idea.
You're afraid to look silly.
You're afraid to make a mistake.
You decided that you were an old man
and that has made you old.
I am old,
so are you, Charles, and that's a fact!
Fact!
Your bones are old,
and they'll break if you try to run with them.
Your heart is old and your lungs are old.
You're used up.
Worn out by a lifetime.
Sit down, Charles.
You're tired now.
Sit down.
I can't.
Charles.
I've got to find out, Ben.
Help me.
There is magic in the world.
I know there is.
When I fell in love with Mary,
kissed her for the first time,
that was magic.
When my boy was born,
that was magic.
Friendship is a magic thing.
Maybe I'm right, Ben.
Maybe kick-the-can is the greatest magic of all.
All right, Ben,
then I'll do it without you.
Mr. Cox!
Mr. Cox! Mr. Cox?!
Mr. Cox!
Mr. Cox! Mr. Cox!
What is it?
Hurry, you've got to stop them.
What are you talking about?
They've all gone outside.
Well, why?
To play kick-the-can.
Now, calm down.
What'll he do when nothing happens?
He really believes it'll make him young.
Charl le's / t.
Hurry.
Now, where?
On the front lawn.
20, 25,
30, 35,
40, 45, 50...
55, 60,
65, 70,
75, 80,
85, 90...
Where are the old people?
What are these kids doing here anyway?
I told them not to play here this afternoon.
Go on, kids!
You'll wake everybody up!
Ready or not, here I come!
Maybe whitley took them around to the back.
One, two, three, you're out.
Charles!
Charlie, is that you?
Is that you, Charlie?
Charlie, it's me, Benny.
Charlie...
Take me with you.
Charl ie, wait for me.
Wait.
Last one into the forest is a rotten apple!
No, Charlie, no.
Wait for me.
Olly, olly oxen free.
Charlie... it's me.
Oll y, oll y oxen free.
Charlie... it's me.
I'll bet whitley's taken them
all down to the orchard. Come on!
Look all you want, Mr. Cox,
you won't find them.
Oll y, oll y oxen free.
O-u-t spells out!
Oll y, oll y oxen free.
Sunnyvale rest, a dying pla oe for ancient people
who ha ve forgotten the fragile magic of youth.
A dying place for those who ha ve forgotten
tha t childhood, ma turityand old age
are curiousl y intertwined and not separa te.
A dying place for those
who ha ve grown too stiff in their thinking
to visit the twilight zone.
Rod serl/ng, orea Tor of the twilight zone,
will tell you about next week's story
after this message.
And now, Mr. Serling.
Next week on the twilight zone,
we roll in a musical instrument purchased in this store.
Now there are pianos and pianos,
but this one was manufactured
in our own very strange, unpredictable factory.
It comes to you via the typewriter of Mr. Earl hamner
and it boasts a collection of oddities and oddball doings.
Next week, you can roll up the rug
as we bring you a piano in the house.
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